


Your Love is Magic

by BeccaBear93



Series: Sunshine Project [3]
Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Sunshine Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 21:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7523077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeccaBear93/pseuds/BeccaBear93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack just wants to know why his best friend is suddenly avoiding him. Mark has a few secrets to hide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Love is Magic

**Author's Note:**

> My third submission for the Sunshine Project. The prompt this week was "Magic."

“Mark!” his mother calls. “Jack’s here!”

Jack can here Mark’s faint voice from across the house. “Tell him I’m sick!”

She turns back to Jack, face scrunched in annoyance and sympathy. “I’m sorry, Jack… I don’t know what’s going on with him lately…”

“It’s okay. I’ll just try another time,” he replies, plastering on a smile for her.

“Alright. Once we sort out whatever’s gotten into Mark, you’ll have to stay over for dinner again, okay?”

“Of course.”

“Good to see you, Jack. Have a good day.”

“You too, ma’am.” He clunks back down the steps and starts his walk home, looking to the sky. Seven times and counting that Mark has avoided him. Usually, they would hang out every day. It’s been nearly three weeks now, and Jack’s starting to wonder what he did to piss off his best friend so badly.

\-----

The next day, Jack debates checking on Mark again. _‘What if something’s really wrong?’_ he thinks.

 _‘Don’t be stupid, you’ll just annoy him more if you keep bothering him every day. Give him some space,’_ he argues with himself.

He makes his way to the place where they always played as children instead. The woods spread out behind both of their houses, and right on the property line, there’s a bent tree that marks the spot they first met. Jack carefully lays on the tree, closing his eyes. He attempts to empty his mind and take a nap in the speckled sunlight, but there are too many thoughts chewing at him.

When he opens his eyes again, he’s surprised to see Mark sitting in the tree above him, staring down. Apparently Mark is surprised to be caught out as well, because he jumps and nearly falls out of the tree. He catches his balance and swings down much more gracefully. “I didn’t think you’d be here,” he admits, not meeting Jack’s eyes.

“I didn’t think you would be, either,” Jack replies, but he isn’t entirely shocked by it. They both always came here to think and get away from the rest of the world. They were just usually together in their own world instead. He stands up, but doesn’t make a move toward the other teen, worried that he’ll scare him away. “Have you been avoiding me, Mark?”

“No!” he objects. Then he reconsiders and says sheepishly, “Well, yes. But not for any reason you’re thinking of!”

“Then why?” Jack tries to hide the hurt on his face, but he isn’t quite fast enough. Mark catches it and instantly feels like a piece of shit.

“Because… I needed some space away from you while I tried to decide whether or not I should tell you something.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Jack asks. His heart leaps into his throat, and he does his best to shove it back down along with any false hope that sprung up at his friend’s words.

“Well, two things, actually.”

“Okay…” How on Earth could Mark possibly have _two_ secrets big enough to make him avoid Jack for weeks?

“Yeah, just…” Mark hesitates, staring at the dirt as he kicks at it. “Can you follow me?”

“Sure,” Jack says, confused.

They make their way deeper into the woods until they reach a clearing. Mark spins in a circle, checking carefully that nobody else is around. Once he’s satisfied, he sits down and gestures for Jack to do the same. He takes a deep breath before saying, “I’m going to show you something, but… You have to promise not to tell anyone. If you hate me or think I’m a freak, I understand, but _please_ don’t tell anyone else.”

The look on Mark’s face is so pleading and desperate that Jack actually starts to feel scared. He’s not sure if he’s scared for himself or for his friend, but he swallows nervously and says, “I promise.”

“Alright.” Mark closes his eyes and takes another deep breath. When he opens them, he glances around until his eyes land on a stick a few feet away. He reaches his hand out, and after a few moments, it lifts off the ground and floats to him. He snatches it out of the air and turns back to his Jack with a panicked expression.

Jack doesn’t notice, too busy staring in shock at the stick. His gut reaction is to ask how Mark pulled off the trick, but… “That was real, wasn’t it?” Mark wouldn’t lie to him, and he wouldn’t be this scared for no reason.

“Yeah.”

“That’s—that’s amazing!” Jack shouts, a wide smile spreading across his face. There are so many questions, but he can’t articulate any of them. “How--? When--? That’s so cool!”

A relieved laugh bubbles out of Mark’s throat, and then another, and then he’s nearly in hysterics. “I—I’m sorry—I don’t know why—”

“It’s okay,” Jack says. He wants to take the time to work through his surprise and confusion, but his friend obviously needs help, and that’s more important. Instead, he crawls across the space between them to hug Mark, who buries his face in his neck gratefully. Once Mark has stopped laughing and is breathing normally, he asks, “So that’s what you were hiding?” The other boy nods into his skin. “How long?”

Mark inhales and lets it out on a long sigh before pulling away. “All my life. You’re the first person I’ve ever told, other than my family.”

A disbelieving grin overtakes Jack’s face. “Really? Well, I guess I should be honored, then.”

“Thank you,” Mark says, suddenly serious.

There are a million different reasons to thank him, but Jack seems to understand. He just nods and asks, “Can you show me more?”

“Yeah, I—I guess so,” he responds, looking over his shoulders out of habit. He lays down, pulling Jack down next to him. Then, index finger out, he draws in the air above him. He doodles a star in tiny, shimmering lights, and then wipes it out of existence. Then he writes each of their names, and then a dog appears… Kind of.

“What is _that_?” Jack asks, giggling.

“A dog!” Mark answers defensively.

“It looks like a squashed pigeon!”

“Like you could do any better!”

“Well, maybe if _I_ had magic, I could!”

Mark goes silent suddenly, and Jack wonders if maybe he took it too far. After a few seconds, though, Mark says quietly, “Maybe you could…”

“Huh? Mark, I’m pretty sure I’d know by now if I could do magic.”

“No, I just mean… Maybe there’s a way that I can give you some of mine.” His brows furrow in thought and eventually he asks, “Do you trust me?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Do you want to… try? I don’t know if it’ll work, but…”

“Alright…”

Steeling himself, Mark reaches across the space between them to take Jack’s hand. Jack can’t help the way his body tenses in surprise, but he relaxes after a moment. And then Mark focuses on pushing his power out of his body and into Jack’s, and Jack jumps.

“Is it working?” Mark asks nervously. “Try something.”

Oh, it’s working, alright. Every nerve in Jack’s body feels like a live wire, so he draws a lightning bolt in the air. It hovers there until he swipes it away, and he feels absolutely giddy. Then he doodles a heart, because his own is thumping wildly in his chest. He’s not sure if it’s from the rush of magic flowing through him or from the rush of Mark’s hand in his own.

“Are you okay?” Mark asks, and Jack realizes that he’s been laying still, lost in his thoughts, index finger still pointing stupidly at the sky.

“Yeah, I just…” He pauses, licks his lips. “Please don’t hate me.” And then he’s rolling over, resting on his elbows above Mark and cutting off a confused noise with his own lips. Mark freezes in shock, and then his hand tightens around Jack’s while the other comes up to curl in his hair, and he kisses back. Jack didn’t think his heart could beat any harder or any faster, but it’s all he can hear now, pulse rushing through his ears at a million beats a minute.

They kiss until they have to part for air, and then Jack collapses next to Mark again with a crazed grin. The heart he drew is still stuck in the air, and he writes ‘J + M’ in it, feeling dopy and cheesy. Beside him, Mark giggles.

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Jack says, because he doesn’t want to let go of the other boy’s hand, but the power is starting to make him dizzy. He wonders how Mark grew used to living with the feeling every single day.

Mark reigns it back in, and they fall silent. After a minute Jack curls closer, laying his head on Mark’s chest, eyes falling shut as a hand starts to stroke through his hair. It’s relaxing, and he eventually starts to drift off.

\-----

Jack awakens slowly, heart clenching painfully at the thought that it was all a dream. But as he regains consciousness, he becomes aware of the hand still clutched in his own and the fact that his pillow is actually somebody’s chest. His heart clenches again, but this time, it’s out of joy and disbelief and excitement. He pushes himself up so he can see Mark’s face, and catches him staring.

“Sorry,” Mark says with a blush. “I couldn’t fall asleep, but I didn’t want to wake you up.”

Jack shrugs and starts to lay back down, but a thought catches his attention. “Oh, wasn’t there something else?”

“Hmm?”

“You said there were two things you had to tell me. One was the magic; what’s the other?”

“Oh.” His face turns an even brighter shade of red, and he mutters something quietly.

“What was that?”

Mark rolls his eyes and speaks up, avoiding Jack’s gaze. “That I love you. And I have for… God, I don’t know. Forever, maybe? I realized it about two years ago, but… It started way before that.”

“Wow.” It’s all he can say, the confession leaving him shocked and breathless.

“Yeah,” Mark answers, still not meeting his eyes.

“Well, I—I really like you, Mark. Obviously,” Jack says, huffing out a laugh at himself. “I won’t lie and say that I love you, because—I don’t know if I do. And I feel like it’d be worse to lie than to wait. But I really like you, and I think that I definitely _could_ love you, given some time.”

Mark finally looks at him, eyes wide. “That’s… that’s a better answer than I ever let myself hope for,” he admits, grinning from ear to ear.

Jack smiles back and says, “Well, I think that answers my question, but… Will you go out with me, Mark?”

Mark nods frantically. “Yeah, yes, of course!”

“Good.” His eyes wander over Mark’s face, and he gladly takes the opportunity to stare for a minute, because he _can_ now. Once he’s had his fill, he leans down to kiss his friend—his _boyfriend_ —again, thinking excitedly of the coming days of dates and stolen kisses and magic.

**Author's Note:**

> Admittedly, when I think of magic, Carry On, Merlin, and Harry Potter are the first things I think of. So this was kind of inspired by the part of Carry On where Simon figures out that he can "push" his magic into Baz, and by a scene in Merlin that I barely remember, with a dragon drawn in embers.


End file.
